Genetical Genomics of Tonic Immobility in the Chicken
by
Jesper Fogelholm 1
, Samuel Inkabi 1, Andrey Höglund 1, Robin Abbey-Lee 1, Martin Johnsson 2,3, Per Jensen 1, Rie Henriksen 1 and Dominic Wright 1,*
Jesper Fogelholm 1, Samuel Inkabi 1, Andrey Höglund 1, Robin Abbey-Lee 1, Martin Johnsson 2,3, Per Jensen 1, Rie Henriksen 1 and Dominic Wright 1,*
1
AVIAN Behavioural Genomics and Physiology Group, IFM Biology, Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, Sweden
2
The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, The University of Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland EH25 9RG, UK
3
Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7023, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Genes 2019, 10(5), 341; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes10050341
Received: 24 January 2019 / Revised: 17 April 2019 / Accepted: 30 April 2019 / Published: 7 May 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Genetics and Genomics of Animal Behaviour and Behavioural Plasticity)
Identifying the molecular mechanisms of animal behaviour is an enduring goal for researchers. Gaining insight into these mechanisms enables us to gain a greater understanding of behaviour and their genetic control. In this paper, we perform Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping of tonic immobility behaviour in an advanced intercross line between wild and domestic chickens. Genes located within the QTL interval were further investigated using global expression QTL (eQTL) mapping from hypothalamus tissue, as well as causality analysis. This identified five candidate genes, with the genes PRDX4 and ACOT9 emerging as the best supported candidates. In addition, we also investigated the connection between tonic immobility, meat pH and struggling behaviour, as the two candidate genes PRDX4 and ACOT9 have previously been implicated in controlling muscle pH at slaughter. We did not find any phenotypic correlations between tonic immobility, struggling behaviour and muscle pH in a smaller additional cohort, despite these behaviours being repeatable within-test.
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Keywords:
QTL; eQTL; tonic immobility; behaviour; domestication; muscle pH
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Fogelholm, J.; Inkabi, S.; Höglund, A.; Abbey-Lee, R.; Johnsson, M.; Jensen, P.; Henriksen, R.; Wright, D. Genetical Genomics of Tonic Immobility in the Chicken. Genes 2019, 10, 341.
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